The title of the message this afternoon, if you're still awake, is “How Close Are WE To The Rapture?” I love this because it's the shortest message I will ever give in my life. The one slide: Very. We can move to the question and answers right now if you want. But for the sake of those of you who are struggling with the concept of, what is the Rapture all about. Let me remind you that in the letter that Paul wrote to the church in Thessaloniki, a church in northern Greece, probably the only one that I can think of that had no Jews in it and therefore no Old Testament verses were ever quoted in that in those epistles. And it's interesting because he said to them, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, “ This is the biblical term for those who died as believers. You see, we as believers, we don't die and enjoy that death, that it's so final and it's so destructive. No, we just fall asleep. And when your child falls asleep, all you do is you take him and you move him to bed. So, he falls asleep here and he wakes up here. “…lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.” He says, “Listen, any believer, even if he dies, he's not dead.” He's no longer… It's not like he's no longer going to live. And this is our hope. So why do you cry and mourn and lament as if you have no hope? “...if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” In other words, once Jesus rose from the dead, that's when death was basically defeated. And so, from now on, when a person dies as a believer, what happens to his soul? Whoosh! It goes to be with Jesus instantly. To be absent from the body is to be ... what?
[Audience: to be present with the Lord.] which means the soul will and can be absent from the body when death comes. And when Christ comes, He's not going to say to those souls, “Wait there. I'll just go and get these.” No, He says, He will... all those people that you're crying about, that you are lamenting over, that you are so sad for they're going to come back. And guess what? You're probably going to say, “Yeah, but it's only their souls. We miss their bodies also!” Wait a minute. Their souls will come and unite with their bodies. So watch this, "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we…” Say ‘we’
[Audiences: We.] “… we who are alive...”
Are you alive? Check your pulse right now. “… we that are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. “ In other words, if you attended a funeral of someone who died as a believer and the Rapture takes place two minutes later, mum, he will get there first. Watch this “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” Now, a lot of people wish it was today or yesterday because of the Feast of Trumpets. It is today, you know? Hello? Do you understand?
It's Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah is not a biblical name. You need to understand.
Rosh Hashanah is not in the Bible. The feast in the Bible that is mentioned is the Feast of Trumpets. That's the biblical name, Yom Teruah, Feast of Trumpette. And it's interesting because... Look, I believe with all of my heart that all the festivals of Israel from Leviticus 23 have been, are and will be fulfilled in Israel for Israel, and it will affect, of course, the whole world. In other words, when Passover was fulfilled, where was it fulfilled? In Jerusalem, of course. During a Jewish festival right in front of the eyes of the Jews. When the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is the sinless life of Jesus, was fulfilled where was it? In Rome? Or in Patmos? Or in somewhere in Spain, where there is, um, some… I don't know, miracles of a statue with some tears or whatever? Where was it fulfilled? In Jerusalem. What about the Feast of First Fruits, the Resurrection of Jesus.
Where did it happen? The Feast of Weeks, which is Pentecost.
Where did it happen? Hello? Where will Jesus come back to? [Audiences: Jerusalem.] And where will Jesus be seen by His people as they lament and cry and repent? And where will He rule the world for 1000 years from? So you see, there are the four festivals that were fulfilled in Jerusalem and there are the three more that will be fulfilled in Jerusalem. Therefore, I think that the trumpet here is a trumpet of God in heavens, just for us. But the Feast of Trumpets will be fulfilled upon the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. And then the Yom Kippur will be fulfilled right after when the Jews will lament and they will, of course, repent. And immediately they will finally understand what the Feast of Tabernacles is all about. In Jerusalem. Of course, it will affect everybody. But I think that the minute you start suspecting every year, that is going to happen in the Feast of Trumpets. First, you say, "I know today", second, you're disappointed every year. Mum. All right.
Can we put an end to this one? Good. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” The guy you just buried, whoof! and “Then we…” Say ‘we’.
[Audiences: We.] “… we who are alive and remain shall be CAUGHT UP together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord”
where? [Audiences: in the air.] Now, it sounds like a cult. I'm telling you, something you repeat and it sounds too fantastic. But that's not the case. You're just reading from the Scriptures. This is the Bible. This is the word of God. “I can't believe we're going to fly up in the air.” Well, you don't have to believe. But it's your problem because the Bible says that we are going to be caught up together with those who died before in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Do you have a problem with that? Good. So the meeting place and the meeting point of us, the believers with Jesus is not on Earth. The Second Coming of Jesus to Earth is not for the Church. It's with the Church. And so, “Thus…”
and watch this, now, it's important. So, the minute we met Jesus, He came down, we went up, we meet halfway. What does the Bible say is now?
Thus what? …Mmmm. Which means anywhere He goes, we go. He goes to the right hand of The Father. He goes to Heaven, we're going there. He returns back to earth,
Guess what? He reigns? Hello? “Therefore comfort one another with these words.” And there's those, of course, who says,
“How dare you?” “We need to go through the Tribulation.” “We need to see some carnage.” “The heads of all the believers will roll down the aisle.” “…Therefore comfort one another with these words.” Now, how did we even get to the word Rapture? Of course, we all know that in the Greek you have the word “Harpazo”. In the Latin Bible, Vulgate, it was called “Rapturo” and therefore, in the English Bible, it is Rapture. So the word Rapture is an English word, don't look for it in the Greek or the Hebrew. You know, some people say to me, “Well, the word ‘Rapture’ isn’t in the Bible!” Of course, you're reading English. Hello? The Bible was not written in English, go to the Greek and the Old Testament go to the Hebrew and see what it says. And Harpazo is to be “caught up”, to be “taken away”. Another time the word "Harpazo" was mentioned is when Philip was with the Ethiopian in the cart. And then they stopped and he baptized him, Remember? And the Ethiopian just got saved, come out of the water and he opens his eyes and Philip is gone because Philip was Raptured. Now you could be rafted upwards or sidewards because Philip was still here. But he was taken away. And the Ethiopian said to himself, “This is too weird.” “I am not going to believe in this nonsense.” Did he say that?
[Audiences: No!] How come people who believe for 30, 40, 50 years say it's ridiculous, and the Ethiopian who was a believer for 30 seconds could accept it as the work of God? Unbelievable. So one of the most important events for us is also the most mysterious one. We know it will happen.
We're sure it will happen. We believe it will happen.
We have the hope it will happen. We are happy it is going to happen. We pray it will happen.
We wait for it to happen.
But... not only we do not know the exact timing of the event; we actually have a very interesting declaration about it from Jesus Himself. And He said in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24; “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” Jesus basically says, “Look, I can tell you everything you want to know. Actually, you should have known exactly the day I came to Earth to Israel.” How do you know that?
Because we're going to see in a few seconds. The Bible gave us the exact date. The Bible also tells us when He will come back because it's going to be right at the end of the seven years Tribulation. But regarding that day when He will take us, no one knows the hour. And there is a reason for that. The reason is very simple. He says “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.” And if you want to understand the meaning of this verse, come tomorrow to McKinney because we're going to talk about the ten virgins tomorrow. “Therefore, you also be…”, … have I just created a big problem right now? I just realized that you cannot go to McKinney tomorrow unless you preregistered because it's a smaller church. Okay, “Therefore…”, listen up. “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming…” What? When? “…at an hour you do not” accept… “Expect”
Excuse me. So how can we know when it will happen?
How can we know when the Rapture? We do have in the Bible anchors that we can latch on to, we can see, we can hold on to. The anchors could be people, it could be events, it could be many different things. First of all, one of the major anchors is a correct interpretation of Scripture. We've got the Bible and we've got the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit can never give you one interpretation and you the opposite interpretation and it will be okay and acceptable. All Scriptures are inspired by the Holy Spirit thus they cannot contradict each other. The Spirit is the spirit of truth; thus the Bible cannot give us false information. Give you an example, second Corinthians five 1 to 8. We'll look and we'll start with it, we see, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God,” I mean, this is a tent.
We have a building from God. Go to first Corinthians Chapter 15 then you understand. Well, look at you. Put your picture from 25 years ago right here. You're dying! We are dying! We're getting older and we're dying. This is a body that is in a process of decay. Whether you like it or not, this… look, death has entered into the world when sin came to the world, and that's it. David said in Psalm 51, he said,
“in sin my mother had conceived me.” And it's interesting because we see that we are being promised a building, not a tent, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. It's very interesting because people, if you don't, if you misinterpret the Scriptures, you would think that instantly, anyone who dies receives, what?
that building. But it's not true, because watch this. “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” And Philippians says, “…having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” he said. And in Romans eight, "We're “eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” In other words, that when somebody dies, there is a point, unless the Rapture happens, where his soul and his body are separated. It's not immediately that he received the new body.
Do you understand that? Okay? However, however, to be able to enter into the heaven, you cannot enter with this body. You understand?
Look at yourself, right now. This body will not enter into heaven. It's a fallen body and you must receive a new one. So the Bible says that first the dead and then we are we're going to change and that corruption will wear incorruption. And we received new body and the new body has absolutely no problem with gravity. Whoof! We're gone. The new body has to be different. It's a building. It's not a tent. I don't say you… I mean, I'm looking at myself also, it’s a tent right now, come on. You try to stoop down to tie your shoelaces. UGH It's a tent! In heaven we will have a building. So we have to remember that we're eagerly waiting for the revelation of Jesus Christ Who will come, and then, of course, will take us who are alive and the dead in Christ will be resurrected as well. And we will then… those who died in Christ will be reunited with their body. The body is buried right now in the cemetery, of those who died and will be reunited, of course, in heaven. It's beautiful! We have that “the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” So we've got first of all, the understanding that we must interpret the Scriptures correctly. And you have to take more than one, you have to take all the scriptures talking about the same thing and then come up with your conclusion. Second, the Lord gave us Bible prophecy. Nearly a third of the Bible is speaking of future event because God wants you to know the future. Isaiah, 46 verses 9 and 10 says, “Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’” So through Bible prophecy, you understand the timing of things because the Lord gave us specific timeframes for different things. In Second Peter, It also Says; “...know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” This is not New King James. Hello?
I recognize it from the mile. Um, let me… let me read to you.
I'm not sure why. Let me read to you, the second Peter Chapter 2 versus 20-21. And he says this “knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” So, special people... and it's written. You don't have to go to a psychic somewhere. It's written. It's here. Hebrews One says, “God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways…” And let me read Hebrews also from my favorite, which is New King James, I will read. “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;” So you see, the same God who spoke to the fathers through the prophets has now spoken to us. In Hebrew Chapter one, “Through Jesus Christ.” And you can see through this verse that the term “last days” began 2000 years ago. This is why the Bible says we live in the last hour of the last days. Also, as we just heard so eloquently. Current events, both political and spiritual, are a great anchor for us to understand where we are and when the Rapture is about to take place. Now, of course, make no mistake, the Rapture can take place any minute, any minute. If Paul was sure, it is going to happen at his lifetime, and he wrote with such assurance that “We that are alive and remain, We will be caught up.” Then that means that there is nothing necessary that has to happen for the Rapture to take place. But the fact of the matter is that the Rapture hasn't taken place yet. We're still here. So now we know what Paul could not know that God had in His plan for Israel to be back in the land and for so many of those things that are pointing at the Tribulation to already begin while we are still here. Amazing. First of all, thankfully, He decided that otherwise we wouldn't be alive today. He waited for us to be born, He saved us and we're here excited. Then He also shared with us scriptures that are describing exactly what we're seeing today. When it comes to political things, we can see, of course, what we talked about earlier today, the alignment of certain countries in the Middle East like never before. If you think that Russia and Turkey and Iran were ever friends, kiss that thought goodbye! They hate each other. They never had any alliance like that in the history of planet Earth. Turkey wants to lead the Sunni world,
Iran wants to lead the Shiite world. They hate each other’s guts. But for the first time ever in the history, they collaborate. It's beyond me. If it wasn't so described in Ezekiel 38 I would never even consider that to be a case. And you see that the peace deal that your president brokered just few days ago brings us to the point where we see why the Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and their young lines, they are protesting that invasion that is about to come, saying, “‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’” That implies that the invasion into Israel has nothing to do with Israeli presence or Israeli occupation or Jewish versus Islam. No! It has to do with stealing, taking plunder, it has to do with something we found, something we have, some wealth that we have acquired, that now they want to take. And over the last few years Israel found trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, while Russia is desperately looking for it. Russia invested $60 billion in a gas pipe into Western Europe to Germany, 97% of it was completed, and Donald Trump stopped it. Don't tell me that the Russians wants Trump to be president. They cannot wait for him to leave the Oval Office. They colluded with the Germans behind the back of NATO and behind the back of the American. And they started working behind the back of everyone on a deal that would make Putin, he's already the richest man in the world I believe, even more rich. And one senator, one senator from this state stopped it. Ted Cruz. And not only that America is saying to the Europeans, we can get you other gas which is even cheaper if you just buy the one that Israel just found. And the Russians are "GRRRR..." They want to kill us. And we are now developing the East Mediterranean pipe from Israel towards Cyprus to Greece to Italy, to Western Europe. Hahaha. The Iranian and the Turkish currency plunged over the last couple months, listen, to the lowest ever, 271,000 Iranian rials for $1.
7.6 Turkish liras for $1. When Erdogan took position a few years ago it was three point something. So you see, the Turks are trying to find gas and to find the oil but they can't find it. And it drives them crazy that Israel finds it, Cyprus finds it, Greece finds it they can't find it. So they send a research vessel escorted with submarines and helicopters and F-16s, and it's moving anywhere they want but they can find it. And that research vessel broke. Now they sent it back home. They're angry! If that's not enough, the coalition of Ezekiel, which is ready. We see as we already heard earlier today. We know this; “that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” And if that's not enough, look what God is doing with Israel. You know, you might take it for granted that the Jews are back in their land. But your grandparents would only dream of it. My grandparents were from Poland. They did not want to come to Israel in the early 1920. There was… Are you kidding me?
Europe was much better. They flourished in Europe. Here in Israel, there was just desert and malaria. Speaking of malaria, why do you think in Africa COVID almost does not exist? Yeah, they take Hydroxychloroquine, I mean, like Candies everywhere. And I want you to know that the Lord said even in Deuteronomy through Moses, He says; “I will gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.” Isaiah 66 describes the moment David Ben-Gurion had to establish the state of Israel. You know, we had literally an hour to decide, statehood or no statehood. We signed the Declaration of Independence before we had it, we signed it on one piece of paper and later on we sewed it to the Declaration of Independence. “Who has heard such a thing?
Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion…” Don't let people say that "Zionism" is a bad word. “…as soon as” what?
“Zion was in labor,” If you believe that Israel is the place for the Jewish people, your Zionists! You're probably saying,
“What are you talking about?” The Zionism is basically your conviction that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people. That's all. “For as soon as Zion was in labor, She gave birth to her children.” In Jeremiah 31 says; despite of what people say, Israel in this chapter in the history that will pass. I want to tell you something. “Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea,
And its waves roar
(The Lord of hosts is His name): “If those ordinances depart
From before Me, says the Lord,” Say “then”
[Audiences: Then.] Now, say it with an attitude of “THEN!”
[Audiences: THEN!] “THEN the seed of Israel shall also cease
from being a nation before Me forever.” In other words, when you walk outside and there is no sun, there's no moon, no stars, they're gone. then Israel is no longer a nation before God. By the way, it's going to happen. You know when? When the Lord will make New Heaven and New Earth and New Jerusalem there will be no more need for the sun, the moon and the stars. Because Jesus will be the Menorah that shines the light. There will be no more need for a temple, and Israel is no longer Israel. Anyone who dwells there is the people of God, the Children of God. That's it. No more distinction between Jew… you understand? It's going to happen one day. But until the eternity in the New Heaven and New Earth and New Jerusalem, Israel is still a nation that stands before God and no one can destroy them not even the Antichrist. you can try. It won't work. Ask the Fuhrer. Daniel's vision is another anchor. Daniel's vision. “I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated, And the books were opened…” “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn [that Pastor Barry was talking about] was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain…” Ladies and gentlemen, everything we know about Tribulation has already bean foretold in the Old Testament. And in Daniel 9, the classic 70 Weeks vision. The 70 weeks are not the history of the world they're the history of Israel. “Seventy weeks are determined
For your city and for people …” he said. So you have to understand folks, he said, “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, [will enter the city.] There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
The street shall be built again, and the wall,
Even in troublesome times. “And after..."
That was seven and sixty-two, we all know, And you all know... Sir... Um, Sir Robert Anderson who was, by the way, an officer in Scotland Yard, just so you know, he wrote a book, The Coming Prince. He managed; He was very smart guy. Who said that the Scots are…? Now, watch this. He said, Look, in the Bible, 70 weeks are 70 units of seven years. A year in the Old Testament is 360 days. So we know exactly. We know exactly when Jesus had to have entered into Jerusalem. And we know the day. How do we know the day? Because he said, “from the moment the command to rebuild Jerusalem was given count, what? seven and 62 weeks. Together is what? 69 weeks. 69 x 7 x 360 is 173,000,880 days. Which brings you to April 6, 32AD Boom! It's the Sunday before Passover and Jesus entered Jerusalem that day. See, when God wants us to know a day, He is going to give us the day. But when God wants you not to know a day, He's going to tell you, “No one knows the day and the hour.” And someone said, “I believe it's Rush Hashanah.” Well, the Bible says no one knows, so no one knows. You know how many YouTube videos there are out there that tells you exactly the day of the Rapture? It's crazy, and all of them are ridiculous because they try to know Hebrew. Oh, they just don't know Hebrew, and it's crazy. Jesus also said about the fig tree generation.
“learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things…” Who is that fig tree? That two chapters earlier was Israel. Of course, it's Israel right now, and that fig tree is the rebirth of Israel, from that death of 2000 years came back to life. And you know that rebirth of Israel is the most important end time signs of all. And He says, “...you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation…” THIS generation… Say “MY generation”
[Audiences: MY generation.] Because a generation is the longevity of people from the moment of conception to their death, including the nine months of swimming lessons in your womb. Ladies and Gentlemen, all of you are alive you belong to the same generation, whether your 2-year-old or 90-year-old right now this is a generation, and all of you live right to see, today, that Israel is back in the land. A Jew from the tribe of Judah is standing right in front of you right now, speaking with broken English and with a tent. Ladies and gentlemen, you see those things; “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” We've got also Ezekiel’s prophesy. We touched about it before, Ezekiel 36, how the land was healed then the 37, how the people were saved from Europe and were brought by the Lord to their land, and you can see, “Behold, O My people…” versus 9 to 14,
“I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of…” Palestine?
Next, into the land of? Oh, Wow, Israel. And... “Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, And I will place you in the [Palestinians own land?]" Oh, it's "the Jewish people's own land." Mum. “How dare you say that! That's not social justice.” Look, “Then you shall know…” What's the purpose of God bringing the Jews back?
What's the purpose of God saving them? What's the purpose of Him performing that and not any other person… So what? “Then you shall know that I, the Lord, [what?] have spoken it and performed it,” “It's Me.”
God said, “no one else.” And of course, Ezekiel 38, we speak of the coming invasion and in Ezekiel 39. So when will the Rapture NOT happen? By the way of elimination, you probably will guess when it will. First of all, it will not happen when you think it will happen. Again, “Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” It will NOT happen on the day that people say it will. First Thessalonians five, We read it, “…concerning the times and the seasons, therefore, you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.” Now of course, it says that it's not a thief in the night for us in a sense that we do not live in the darkness, in the night. But it is going to surprise earth dwellers. Two are going to be in the field: whoosh!
one will be taken and the other left. Two are grinding the mill: whoosh!
one is taken and the other left. It is not going to be commercial on TV; “Rapture! Tomorrow 9 a.m.” It’s going to happen! It will not happen during or after the Tribulation. So, if you believe that Tribulation had already begun, Mmmm, you have been left behind. The Bible says; “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” in first Thessalonians five. And you can see; “Therefore [what?] comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” Don't sell them destruction, don't sell them annihilation, don't sell them the Antichrist, that's not for you. You should comfort one another and edify each other. First Thessalonians one, look what he says; “to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us [what?] "from" the wrath to come.”
Not “through” the wrath to come. If that's not enough, Revelation three to the Church of Philadelphia; “I also will keep you FROM the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” This is why Pastor Barry just read that the Antichrist in Chapter 13 he will blaspheme not only God and His tabernacle but also the dwellers of heaven! Hello? We won't be here. There are the earth dwellers during the Tribulation and there are heaven's dwellers in the Tribulation. It will not happen after the Antichrist revealed, as we already know, because second Thessalonians says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day WILL NOT COME unless the falling away comes first, and the man of [b]sin is revealed,” And then he moves on and says, “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the…” Excuse me. I don't know. Continue to the fact when it says; “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is [what?] taken out of the way.” Now, remember how we say “then”? “THEN!” Say that again. “THEN the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.” Now, will the Rapture trigger the Tribulation? Maybe. Well, we don't know. Who… do you care? I see whole…
people write books about it. So, what do I care? All I care is that I'm out of here. I'm checking out. Will the hotel be full after I'm done? Who cares? Will the hotel serve great food once I checked out? Who cares! They don't serve any food right now. Remember, Daniel says that he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week. So we know that the Tribulation will be the last week of those 70 weeks. It's not for us, it's for Israel. It's about Israel, it's the description of the whole history of Israel. Do you understand that? So for us “Adios, amigos.” That's why, by the way, one of the names of the Tribulation is, what? “Jacob's trouble”. Will the Rapture… Will there be a gap between the Rapture and Tribulation? I want you to say,.. “Who cares!” Somebody just wrote a book about it, and I'm like, “a gap?!” Okay, let's say there is a gap... but? [Audiences: Who cares!!] Look, what I care about is what I see right now in the church where I see pastors saying that the fig tree is not Israel, where we see the pastors saying that Genesis 12:3 is not about Israel, “I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;” Where I see the pastors are saying that there is no Rapture. That's what I care about. Because right now while we're still here that deception is going on. Remember; “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” And it also said, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” And if Jesus said in Matthew 22 that the fig tree is Israel, speaking of Israel, describing, then why would in Matthew 24 it's not Israel? And what's the point of mentioning a fig tree if it's just a tree? The Rapture will not happen… it WILL happen, and it has to happen before the Tribulation, and we know that it is God's way of doing things. He removes the righteous before He pours His judgment upon the unrighteous, as He did in Genesis 19; “…take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” We see that in Genesis 19. We also know how Noah was lifted up as the flood covered the earth. Take a look at this chart. So this is a picture of what the Bible through the Prophet Daniel and all the other profits is talking about end time will look like. You can clearly see; Daniel 70 weeks are separated seven and 62 happen already at the very beginning before the church was born and Jesus, of course, coming to the land of Israel and then upon His departure, He sent the Holy Spirit and the church age thus had begun. But you see, we're right now at the very end and right after the Rapture, we can see, starts the 70th week that last week, the 70th week, that one week that is left to be fulfilled. You can see as we go up, we go up and Christ returns down and we meet Him in that cloud, that cloud this particular one. Christ, seven years later, at the end of that last week, returns with the Church in His second coming to establish the Millennial Kingdom and at the end of the Millennial Kingdom we’re going to come to the point where the Great White Throne Judgment is going to happen, the books will be open and anyone who is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life goes down to the Lake of Fire And, of course, the believers will be in the New Jerusalem as the New Heaven, a new Earth and New Jerusalem are coming down. And you can clearly see that this is a beautiful picture. And we are, where? we are at the very, very, very edge before the Tribulation begins. We don't know where the Rapture is going to happen, but we know that the Tribulation is around the corner. We just heard the whole message about it. Hello? So we understand… to summarize this whole thing, we understand how close are we to the Rapture? Very, very, very!
Because we see the convergence of so many prophecies right now. You know that in your lifetime more prophecies have been fulfilled than any other generations since the time of Jesus Christ, how can we, seeing all these convergences? [1John2] “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. “ [Titus2] “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing…” “Appearing” by the way, is when He comes like that, that's not His Second Coming where He stays, He appears in the sky. “…the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Father, we thank you so much for this Blessed Hope. We thank you that you have prepared your people for all good works that you have indeed purified and redeemed us from every lawless deed. And we're your own special people. We thank you, Father, that you gave us anchors of Scripture and current events. We see political and spiritual developments around the world. We see all you spoke through the prophets long time ago and we see that great convergence. And we are so ready to be out of here. We're so ready. Lord, we were not going to try and rebuke you for being late because you're never late. You are long suffering, not willing anyone to perish, but all should come to the knowledge of Jesus. But we also know, Father, that the time will come and the door will be closed and in an unexpected moment, Boom! We will be out of here. And Father, you told us just to be ready, to be sober and to be watchful. And that's what we want to do. And conferences like this and in teachings like this and in gatherings of the saints, of the watchman from all over the world, we want to be ready. We want to be watchful. We want to be sober. We want… Father, we don't know the day, we don't know the hour, we have no clue but who cares? If we're ready any minute you take us, we are going to be out of here. We bless your name. We thank you. We bless you. We do all of that in the matchless, in the most beautiful name of the Holy One of Israel Yeshua, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, The Lord of Lord, The Lion of the tribe of Judah, Emmanuel, In the name of Jesus, we pray and all of God's people say, Amen. Amen.
